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Whitman's Poet-Prophet and Carlyle's Hero

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Fred Manning Smith
Fred Manning Smith*
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
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Extract

An interest in Whitman's sources is to be expected, partly because of Whitman's secretiveness. The extent of his indebtedness to Emerson continues to be a problem. That this influence was felt before the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855 is questioned, since Walt himself and his earliest biographers say that he had not read Emerson before publishing the first edition of the Leaves. Thus, in his Notes on Walt Whitman, John Burroughs writes: “Up to the time he published the quarto edition [the 1855 edition] he had never read the Essays or Poems of Mr. Emerson at all. This is positively true. In the summer following that publication he first became acquainted with the Essays.” Whitman's friend, W. D. O'Connor, says that Walt had read Kant, Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel, and that any fancied indebtedness to Emerson “is referable to the German source both had drunk from.” Though I believe that Whitman had read more of Emerson before 1855 than he would admit or would allow his friends to admit, I believe, too, that much of the resemblance between the writings of Emerson and Whitman, with reference especially to the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass, may be due to their “having drunk from the same source,” that source being Carlyle.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , December 1940 , pp. 1146 - 1164
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1940

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References

1 John Burroughs, Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person (New York, 1867), pp. 16–17.

2 R. M. Bucke, Walt Whitman (Philadelphia, 1883), p. 83.

3 For the part Whitman had in the writing of Burroughs' Notes see Frederick P. Hier's article, “The End of a Literary Mystery,” American Mercury, i (1924), 471–478. Emory Holloway says that Whitman had “laid a shaping hand upon the biographies of Burroughs, and Bucke, and Traubel, and (through these and his own often-quoted ‘Specimen Days‘) indirectly upon all others.” The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman, ed. Emory Holloway (Garden City, N. Y., 1921), i, ix. Hereafter the Uncollected Poetry and Prose will be referred to as P. and P.

4 The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman, ed. R. M. Bucke, T. B. Harned, and Horace Traubel (New York, 1902), ix, 123. All references to Whitman's writings, unless otherwise stated, will be made to the Complete Writings, hereafter to be referred to as Works.

5 For a summary of Whitman's criticism of Carlyle see Maurice O. Johnson, “Walt Whitman as a Critic of Literature,” University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature and Criticism, No. 16 (1938), pp. 56–59.

6 Esther Shephard, Walt Whitman's Pose (New York, 1938). Where did Whitman get his ideas for Leaves of Grass? “The true answer,” according to Mrs. Shephard, “we shall find, is that Walt Whitman learned to be a poet-prophet of the nineteenth century from suggestions he got from a book and that in order to gain a reputation for originality he thought it necessary to hide the source.” The book, Mrs. Shephard thinks, is the sequel to George Sand's Consuelo, The Countess of Rudolstadt. H. S. Canby, reviewing Wall Whitman's Pose for the Saturday Review of Literature (April 9, 1938) writes: “The next biographer will weigh Mrs. Shephard's discovery. By that time I have little doubt that there will be still more evidence that the consummate egoist lied about his independence of the world's store of culture.”

7 Some of the parallels that will be noticed in this article may be found in the earlier essays of Carlyle, in Past and Present, the French Revolution, etc., as well as in Sartor and Heroes, because Carlyle constantly put into his writings material he had used before. C. J. Furness in Walt Whitman's Workshop (Cambridge, 1928, p. 200), having observed that Whitman, like Emerson, was in the habit of interchanging material between poems, essays, and lectures, says that it is “one of the many characteristic points of similarity between Whitman and his ‘Master’.” But both Emerson and Whitman could have learned this from Carlyle.

8 Holloway thinks that 1847 is the year to which “we must assign Whitman's first definite efforts to compose the novel volume which was to see the light of print in 1855.” P. and P., i, xlix.

9 Sartor Resartus, p. 154. All references to Carlyle will be to the Centenary Edition (New York: Scribner, 1896–1901). Sartor Resartus will be hereafter cited as SR; Heroes and Hero Worship as HW.

10 “Starting from Paumanok” (1860), i, 21.

11 Works, v, 189.

12 See Walt Whitman's Workshop, op. cit., p. 187.

13 Works, iii, 65.

14 HW, p. 138.

15 Works, ix, 6.

16 Ibid., ix, 55.

17 Workshop, op. cit., p. 67.

18 HW, p. 95.

19 HW, p. 148.

20 Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden (New York, 1906–14), ii, 502.

21 Workshop, p. 154.

22 HW, p. 2.

23 “Starting from Paumanok” (1860), i, 22.

24 HW, pp. 5, 25, 33.

25 Robert Buchanan says in an article on Whitman in the Broadway Magazine (Nov., 1867): “Thoughts crowd so thick upon him, that he has no time to seek their artistic equivalent.”

26 HW, pp. 53, 66, 71, 75.

27 HW, pp. 141–142.

28 HW, p. 155.

29 HW, p. 185.

30 HW, pp. 217, 225.

31 SR, p. 203.

32 “Song of Myself” (1855), i, 62.

33 Ibid., i, 65.

34 Ibid., i, 86.

35 Ibid., i, 87.

36 Ibid., i, 65.

37 Ibid., i, 108.

38 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, 125.

39 “Spontaneous Me” (1856), i, 126.

40 Works, x, 34.

41 Ibid., ix, 17.

42 R. M. Bucke, Notes and Fragments (London, Canada, 1899), p. 40.

43 Ibid., p. 40.

44 Complete Prose Works of Walt Whitman (Boston, 1898), p. 292.

45 HW, pp. 83–84, 90–91.

46 Traubel, i, 163.

47 HW, p. 83.

48 Traubel, ii, 4.

49 Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 157.

50 Works, x, 34.

51 HW, p. 91.

52 HW, p. 65.

53 HW, p. 16.

54 HW, p. 23.

55 HW, pp. 63, 67, 69, 71–72.

56 HW, pp. 85, 189.

57 HW, p. 113.

58 HW, pp. 127–128, 142.

59 HW, p. 146.

60 HW, p. 166.

61 HW, p. 209.

62 HW, p. 166.

63 Shephard, op. cit., p. 333.

64 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, 120–121.

65 “Song of Myself” (1855), i, 108.

66 Ibid., i, 36.

67 Ibid., i, 53.

68 Ibid., i, 54.

69 “Song of the Broad-Axe” (1856), the McKay edition of L. of G., p. 168.

70 Bucke, Notes and Fragments, op. cit., p. 40.

71 “Proto-Leaf” (1850), McKay edition, p. 15.

72 “Song of the Open Road” (1856), i, 185.

73 “Song of Myself,” i, 72.

74 “Song of the Answerer” (1855), i, 202. The expression appears in his Anti-Slavery Notes: “And to the great King, How are you, friend?” {Workshop, p. 83). This is more like Carlyle's description of Mahomet, who spoke “plainly to all manner of Persian Kings.”

75 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, 125.

76 “Song of Myself,” i, 108. Whitman takes leave of his “Song of Myself” with a reference to his “barbaric yawp”; Carlyle in his farewell to the book on clothes philosophy says that it has been written in “barbaric wise.” SR, p. 233.

77 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, III.

78 Works, ix, 34.

79 In Re Wall Whitman, ed. H. Traubel, R. M. Bucke, and T. B. Harned (Philadelphia, 1893), p. 16.

80 HW, p. 59.

81 HW, pp. 105, 108.

82 Traubel, ii, 2.

83 HW, p. 25.

84 HW, pp. 53–54.

85 HW, pp. 93–95.

86 HW, pp. 139–141.

87 HW, p. 150.

88 HW, p. 179.

89 HW, p. 190.

90 HW, pp. 212, 217.

91 SR, pp. 25, 53.

92 “Song of Myself” (1855), i, 46.

93 Ibid., i, 38.

94 Ibid., i, 36.

95 Ibid., i, 60.

96 “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856), i, 196.

97 “Recorders Ages Since” (1860), i, 147.

98 In Re Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 19.

99 Ibid., pp. 19, 20.

100 Ibid., p. 13.

101 Works, v, 167.

102 HW, pp. 89, 93.

103 HW, p. 53.

104 HW, p. 184.

105 HW, p. 191.

106 HW, pp. 218, 220.

107 HW, p. 151.

108 HW, p. 224.

109 SR, p. 18.

110 “Great are the Myths” (1855), iii, 306.

111 “Song of the Rolling Earth” (1856), i, 274.

112 “Song of the Open Road” (1856), i, 184.

113 “A Glimpse” (1860), i, 157.

114 “Behold this Swarthy Face” (1860), i, 152.

115 “Song of Myself” (1855), i, 36.

116 “To Him that was Crucified” (1860), ii, 159.

117 HW, p. 108.

118 “Great are the Myths,” iii, 205.

119 Workshop, p. 153.

120 Traubel, iii, 188.

121 HW, pp. 93, 114.

122 In Re Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 21.

123 “Song of Myself,” i, 62.

124 HW, p. 128.

125 HW, p. 101.

126 HW, p. 13.

127 In Re Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 16.

128 Ibid., p. 28.

129 “Starting from Paumanok,” i, 27.

130 HW, p. 78.

131 HW, p. 192.

132 HW, p. 115.

133 P. and P., ii, 246.

134 In Re Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 19.

135 SR, pp. 40–41.

136 “Song of the Broad-Axe” (1856), i, 230.

137 “Song of the Open Road” (1856), i, 185.

138 “Song of Myself” (1855), i, 66.

139 HW, p. 130.

140 HW, p. 212.

141 SR, p. 158.

142 R. M. Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness (Philadelphia, 1901), p. 188.

143 HW, pp. 139, 141.

144 SR, p. 24.

145 Works, ix, 35–37.

146 New York Dissected, ed. Emory Holloway and Ralph Adimari (New York, 1936), p. 56.

147 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, 117.

148 “Song of the Answerer” (1855), i, 202.

149 HW, p. 156.

150 HW, p. 114.

151 HW, p. 113.

152 P. and P., ii, 65.

153 “By Blue Ontario's Shore” (1856), ii, 114.

154 P. and P., ii, p. 62.

155 HW, p. 9.

156 “Song of the Open Road,” i, 181–182.

157 SR, p. 191.

158 HW, p. 189.

159 HW, p. 185.

160 Shephard, op. cit., p. 41.

161 HW, p. 73.

162 “By Blue Ontario's Shore,” ii, 115.

163 HW, p. 7.

164 “Song of Myself,” i, 53.

165 HW, p. 104.

166 Works, v, 177.

167 HW, pp. 54–55.

168 “Song of the Answerer,” i, 200.

169 HW, p. 105.

170 “Salut au Monde,” i, 165.

171 HW, pp. 80–81.

172 “Song of Myself,” i, 41.

173 “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” (1859), ii, 8.

174 HW, p. 108.

175 Works, ix, 12.

176 HW, p. 186.

177 Works, v, 164.

178 HW, p. 54.

179 “Song of the Open Road,” i, 184.

180 Works, v, 77.

181 “Notes Left Over.” See Shephard, op. cit., pp. 348–350.

182 HW, p. 127.

183 Ibid., p. 126.

184 Ibid., p. 145.

185 “Song of Myself,” i, 105.

186 “Starting from Paumanok,” i, 20.

187 Bucke, Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 51.

188 Works, iii, 298.

189 Works, iii, 63–64.

190 “By Blue Ontario's Shore,” McKay edition, p. 304.

191 “Unnamed Lands” (1860), ii, 144.

192 “Apostroph” (1869), iii, 294.

193 “So Long” (1860), McKay edition, p. 343.

194 “Are you the New Person?” (1860), i, 149.

195 “Song of the Broad-Axe” (1856), i, 229.

196 Shephard, op. cit., p. 330.

197 “By Blue Ontario's Shore,” ii, 108.

198 HW, p. 202.

199 HW, p. 24.

200 HW, p. 116.

201 Works, v, 54.

202 Shephard, op. cit., p. 339.

203 Traubel, ii, 369.

204 SR, p. 12.

205 HW, p. 220.

206 SR, p. 161.

207 Works, ix, 119.

208 SR, pp. 7, 22–25.

209 Made up of some passages from Whitman's anonymous reviews published in In Re Walt Whitman (pp. 23–24) and Shephard's Walt Whitman's Pose (pp. 40–42).

210 Works, ix, 36.

211 SR, p. 22.

212 Burroughs, Notes, op. cit., p. 34.

213 There is only one German expression in Whitman's poems, according to an article by Rebecca Coy on Whitman's vocabulary (U. of Texas Studies in English, No. 16); it is Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott, the title of Luther's hymn, in “Proud Music of the Storm.” Whitman could have found this in Carlyle's essay, “Luther's Psalm” (1831).

214 See Walt Whitman, An American Primer, ed. H. Traubel (Boston, 1904).

215 He may have found some expressions in George Sand (see Shephard, op. cit); some in Shakespeare (see R. C. Harrison, “Walt Whitman and Shakespeare,” PMLA, xliv, 1201–1238).

216 W. S. Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman (London, 1896), p. 29.

217 HW, p. 158.

218 HW, p. 208.

219 “Song of the Answerer,” i, 200.

220 HW, p. 8.

221 HW, p. 114.

222 HW, p. 117.

223 “Song of Myself,” i, 88.

224 “The Sleepers,” ii, 202.

225 SR, p. 16.

226 “There Was a Child Went Forth,” ii, 137.

227 HW, p. 11.

228 “Song of Myself,” i, 58.

229 HW, p. 64.

230 “Song of Myself,” i, 54.

231 W. S. Kennedy, The Fight of a Book for the World (West Yarmouth, Mass., 1926), p. 285.

232 Edward Carpenter, Days with Walt Whitman (London, 1906), pp. 38–39.

233 Traubel, ii, 241.

234 Works, iii, 60.

235 Wall Whitman, op. cit., pp. 221–222.

236 Bucke, Walt Whitman, op. cit., p. 83.

237 Op. cit., p. 349.

238 J. B. Moore, “The Master of Whitman,” Studies in Philology, xxiii (Jan., 1926), 77–89.

239 Kennedy, Reminiscences, op. cit., p. 76.